We had a question on whether Bhakti is useless in Tāntrika Upāsanā?
I am very sure that we have, at no point, made any point suggesting the insignificance or irrelevance of Bhakti in upāsanā. In fact, if one looks at our relatively large archive, there are numerous articles on Bhakti Mīmāmsā.
However, I certainly have my reservations about popular Bhakti today which seems to be all about severe allergy to intellectual pursuits and practical upāsanā. An example: ‘I can recite such and such mantra without bothering about pronunciation, procedure or any involved technicalities, as I have Bhakti, and the dēvatā will accept the same’. Most often, such so-called Bhaktas are lazy bums who recite difficult mantras of deities like Ucchiṣṭa Gaṇēśāna, Kāmakalākālī, Sharabhēśvara, Ugracaṇḍā etc., and land in trouble due to their shoddy approach. Any criticism you shall find on this site is certainly of such Bhakti. An upāsaka who has studied the tantra śāstra under a competent Guru seldom has doubts about the true nature of Bhakti and its practical application in upāsanā.
If one were to examine the role of Bhakti in Tantra, one needs to pick a specific stream, as Tantra is hardly a homogenous stream of ideas. If we examine Kashmir Shaivism, there is sufficient importance awarded to Bhakti here:
भक्तिश्चैका शस्ता
सिद्धेर्मूलं ह्युपायजालानाम् |
न विना भक्तिं किमपि क्वापि
हि सिद्ध्यत्युपायकं जन्तोः ||
Kashmir Shaivism formulates four different upāyas or spiritual means for accomplishing mōkṣa. These means are skillful ways for aspirants of varying levels of capacity and qualification to raise their individual consciousness to the Universal or Supreme Consciousness. It is pointed out that without Bhakti (of the right kind), the various upāyas (such as śākta, śāmbhava, aṇu) do not yield the desired fruit. However, the inference here is that siddhi is attained by applying bhakti to the upāyas, and not solely through upāya devoid of bhakti or bhakti not channeled through an upāya. The same is illustrated beautifully by Srī Bhāskararāya when he deals with the sūtra bhaktimānupāsīta.
But how exactly does Bhakti help in the fructification of the adopted upāya?
कुर्वन्ति यदाऽघोरा जीवं
शक्तय उपायरुचिशीलम् |
तस्मिन्नेव निमेषे
घोरतराः
पातयन्ति भोगेषु ||
There are three categories of śaktis which operate under the command of Paramaśiva or Parāśakti: they are Ghōrā, Ghōratarā or Mahāghōrā and Aghōrā. Paramaśiva, assuming the form of Mahāviṣṇu, sustains the entire creation through the play of these three categories of powers or śaktis, which are stationed within the ten senses of the living beings. The śakti named Ghōrā, while responsible for bhoga or bhukti, also causes impediments or vighnas to spiritual progress and thus causing the downfall of those who lack Bhakti in the Supreme. Ghoratarā or Mahāghōrā śakti causes craving for sensory pleasures and hence causes vighna to spiritual progress. Aghōrā śakti on the other hand, inspires one towards cleansing of the malatraya and hence propelling the aspirant towards emancipation. These śaktis are also represented as pīṭhēśvarīs within the Mātr̥kā cakra, where the pīṭha is represented by the senses. Thus these three śaktis of Parāmbā are responsible for bandha and mōkṣa of the jīva.
विघ्नानां प्रशमार्थं भक्तिः
तेषां प्रशस्यते शैवे |
भक्तिर्भुक्तिं मुक्तिं
शिवभावं सर्वतोऽपि वा दद्यात् ||
भक्तिस्त्वेव हि परमाऽनुग्रह-
लीला सदा महेशस्य |
भक्त्या हि शास्त्रबोधो
भक्त्या लभ्यश्च सद्गुरुः शीघ्रम् ||
भक्त्या च मन्त्रदीक्षा लभ्या
मन्त्राश्च वीर्यवन्तः स्युः |
भक्त्या गुरुत्वलाभः किं स्याल्लोके
न यद्भवेद्भक्त्या ||
If one has Bhakti in the Supreme, the vighnas or impediments caused by Ghōrā and Ghoratarī śaktis are avoided as these śaktis do not bother such an aspirant. At the same time, Aghōrā śakti is reinforced and inspires the aspirant towards mōkṣamārga. This is the reason why Tantras of both dvaita and advaita categories call out Bhakti as the basis for fructification of upāyas; without Bhakti, the aspirant cannot (generally) overcome these severe impediments (vighnas).
Bhakti arises only in the hearts of those who experience anugraha of the Supreme in the form of Shaktipāta. The intensity or quality of Bhakti depends on the intensity of the śaktipāta (tīvra, tīvratara etc.) Thus, only when Bhakti arises in the heart after śaktipāta does one attain śāstrabōdha, get a Sadguru and obtain mantra-dīkṣā. Only when practiced with the right or skillful Bhakti do the mantras become potent (vīryavanta) and grant the desired siddhi.
The highest form of bhakti, described as parā bhakti, is of the nature of non-duality (abheda) and it is this bhakti that is described by Utpaladēva thus:
ज्ञानस्य परमा भूमि-
र्योगस्य परमा दशा |
त्वद्भक्तिर्या विभो कर्हि
पूर्णा मे स्यात्तदर्थिता ||
The upāyas become sulabha and susiddha for those with Bhakti towards the Supreme. As stated earlier, those devoid of such Bhakti whose nature is specifically described in the āgamas and Tantras, are pulled downwards towards samsāra by certain categories of śaktis from the Mātr̥kā cakra.